ant

its much harder to spot the difference on the internet and thats why its best to buy from credible places/people. even if you see a good deal you may wanna pay a little extra for that peace of mind, know what i'm saying ?! fake clubs is the real problem tho, grip is no big deal compared to that really.

bought iomic putter grip just recently and it says made in japan. its really nice grip tho and as long as they can maintain that quality dont really care where its made.

afaik all Miuras are two piece hosel and head welded. Miura advertise it as advantage and there are folks who gotta tell you how inferior that is in their opinion to one piece design. truth is its all bunch of bs and doesnt really matter. they have a very unique sharp but not harsh feel to them ie you can feel ball compression to a great extent, feels like it stays on the face longer too and its not muted or watered down softer kinda feeling eg comparing to Mizuno for instance. talking about MG blade here btw, dunno about their cbs feel wise but they all two piece i believe. feel is subjective tho so this might not make sense to some folks but thats what i feel and prefer over buttery or super soft or just plain muted. alot of feel in those MG blades.

LOL :)

technology has the shelf life of a banana. golf technology does not move even remotely as fast as electronics tho, maybe due to rules/restrictions in place and good old true blade is still a good old true blade, no gimmicks. i'm really impressed by recent shaft technology and how its developing tho, like what we were talking about earlier ie high end graphite stuff. guns, i dunno, ak47 and all its various mods been around for ages and still sell like hot cakes afaik.

dunno man, personally im very interested in golf equipment technology and design and i can relate to that somewhat from that perspective but for the clubs i use i found it very hard to switch once i find a particular club/s that i like. for example i had these old wedges that are very beaten up so got a new set to replace them but man if i didnt have to replace them due to wear i would never do that, just feels uncomfortable to me. i like trying new clubs, its fun, but re-shuffling what works well and what i like in my bag is completely different story.

imho generally not a good idea to mix them irons like that, you bound to have inconsistencies. good club builder can do their best to match them for you, its not just about lofts, but personally i still wont do that. just switch to the set you like entirely and stick to it, will pay off in a long run.

why ?! if you love those irons and they are in a good shape whats the point changing them ?

man, that sux! tho i guess if you are after that much performance you gotta pay the price and not just sticker price. the pic posted it looks shattered, breakage in several places, that must have been very fragile to begin with. either that or its manufacturing/materials defects but its unlikely since i dont believe those guys have any serious volumes to get that sloppy.

yeah, wow, havent seen anything like that. must be all that glass like it was mentioned earlier. really, they gotta put a big fat red sticker on those at the factory so that people are aware how fragile those things are and how they should be careful unless they have a tour van with a bunch of backups following them around.

gotta try it this winter, weather permitting and all. maybe just play to green only to stay on the move and keep warm. standing around in thermals and thin fleece kinda wear could get very uncomfy especially in cold wind or when there is no direct sunlight and i hate wearing bulk clothing when playing, even light windbreaker feels restrictive to me. no issue when practicing of course.

there been plenty of reviews of them, on wrx and elsewhere, they been around for awhile now. they are basically MP-33 successor afaik which was pretty classic.

i think the guy wants to keep his existing wedges, kinda to figure something out with what he already got, with minimal damage and expense.

i dont think i'll be able to actually play but practicing off the mat is what i had in mind. they might open some places here once day temperature goes into plus range or so. some folks around here go pretty extreme or silly depending on how you look at it ;) check this out http://www.snowgolfcup.com what you guys do in Japan for the winter ? i heard it doesnt get too warm over there either, like close to zero degrees on average maybe ?

got a related kinda question here. since winter is upon us how those high end shafts react to low temperatures ? i dont mean extremely low but say 0 to -10 C range, neither how it affects shaft performance, if it does that is, but is it safe to use them in low temperatures without the risk of them snapping or something ?

best suggestion is to not buy irons with jacked up lofts to begin with. this is a common trend these days that getting worse and worse it seems. because alot of people out there seem to care about one thing only ie mine is bigger than yours errr sorry i meant i can whack it further than you with any given club. somebody from the industry said that they dont know any successful manufacturer who made any serious money selling clubs that go shorter than competition. its unfortunate that manufacturers like Epon, Mizuno etc got mixed into this but they havent got much choice really, if other volume manufacturers do that they have to as well if they wanna sell more of their stuff. its stupid and yet it sells clubs, go figure. more practical suggestion if your buddy wanna stick with those is like you said either bend them which would likely change how it interacts with the turf or add wedges to compensate. on compact mb blades bending aint gonna change anything that much but with cbs ymmv depending on design and how bulky it is. ask good club builder to have a look at them in person and whether they think bending them would be a good idea for that given sole design. re-grinding is another option i guess but you really gotta love those irons to go into that much trouble.

why are you people so surprised at this ?! think about it. think old hickory shafts. you cant just go and whack it you have to work it. what you have now the way things are going is something you can just whack and it will work for you given you got fitted in the right range of characteristics. if you suddenly got any newfound respect for Bobby Jones and other folks playing back then, well, i dont blame you ;)

found http://www.royalcollection.co.jp/shaft_pdf/custom1.pdf for custom shaft options.

new driver appears to be available in the pro shop, compact but deep head, check it out. would be interesting to know what other shafts RC gonna offer and swing weights with them built and at what upgrade prices. D1-D2 is way too light for this personally.

if you want a ball to help you produce a straighter ball flight give BridgeStone e6 a try. found one and was pretty amazed at what it does, never thought a ball can do that. you can still work it and even hook or slice it but it would severely reduce any amount you put on it. probably not a distance champion but i dont care, i think people are so obsessed with distance these days its silly like they all playing in driving contests or something. works predictable with a wedge too and its midrange priced and i'm not talking JDM balls pricing here. unlike JDM balls it doesnt have any bling to it tho and dipping it in gold might affect its flight characteristics.

you might be interested reading http://www.golftoimpress.com/2010/08/new-ozik-program-130-iron-shafts/ and comments there. i would love to try high end graphite to be honest because i think it has advantages given it can match or better steel specs but until i do i'm not convinced that right now even high end graphite is superior to properly matched steel. then there is the price of course. til it gets even remotely reasonable, ie not for a set of shafts to cost roughly the same as a set of good clubs made, it doesnt make sense for me.

doesnt work that way. you can play that sw for yonks and get used to it and make it work but if its not your swing weight the moment you pick the right one you will know.

+1 tho i'm on the other side of the scale. it doesnt matter. what matters is if *you* can feel the club good or not. everybody is different. there is no too light or too heavy a swingweight. its all manufacturing bs to standardize and cut costs coz certain numbers were found to suit average Joes and Janes ok.

http://www.titleist.com/historical_clubs/details.asp?id=35 4 and a half grand is crazy tho, i'm not saying they aint nice but whats so special about them ? collector kinda value ? especially if you gonna game them. if i had that kinda money to spend on a set of irons i would order myself a nice custom built regular set and donated the rest to some charity or something. would make me feel better but thats just me.

yeah, seen that post, one good and right looking FW that is! i'm very happy with Pro TP right now and this looks like continuation of the same good stuff although this one looks slightly bigger and deeper than Pro TP tho its hard to tell. jfyi personally i didnt find Pro TP more difficult than anything else i have tried if anything its actually easier for me to hit proper because of how it feels ie gives me a ton of confidence at address because its so solid and with my NS steel combo i can feel it really well during the swing. the only part where its harder to hit proper than your regular off the shelf stuff are sketchy lies but other than that you dont have to be a pro or a very good player to game it, trust me coz i'm neither :) and it works for me ways and ways better than anything i have tried before but then again all this stuff is very personal, maybe i just got lucky and found a good match.